266	BELIEF  IN- SPIRITS
population is analogous to an outburst from the lower strata
of the unconscious in an individual. In the case of Russia
and Germany what we see is the visible and concrete collapse
of two great nations.1
But animation of the unconscious may begin from within,
in the absence of a definite external catastrophe. In such
a case it is due to the gradual development of a new psycho-
logical attitude in the depths of a nation's mentality. Thus,
in an epoch of worldliness and materialism an idealistic
attitude may slowly develop in the unconscious. For example,
the evolution of Christianity was not due to the collapse of
the Roman Empire. It originated at the time of the Pax
Romana, during the epoch of the Empire's greatest splendour
and power. Such a new era is conditioned by developments
that are taking place in almost everybody, that is, by a
process in the collective unconscious, In everybody at such
a time, unconscious energies disturb the conscious; but the
individual in such a case does not consider himself ill, because
he is not different from his fellow beings. He simply takes
part in a collective transformation, whose origins and aims
remain unconscious. The individual may be unhappy and
distressed, and probably has genuine reasons for his sadness;
for social and political conditions will suffer greatly from the
fundamental changes going on. He will not, however, have
the typically morbid feeling of one whose unconscious becomes
disturbed on account of painful experiences of an individual
nature.
The animation of the collective unconscious does not
always create disturbances, for it may also work beneficially;
but it always carries with it something of a supernatural
character. Owing to this, the effect of the collective un-
conscious is always beyond the grasp of man. At one time
it helps, at another time it destroys him. It is never to be
relied upon. Therefore primitive man is especially subject
to the fetters of the unconscious. Yet among primitive
1 This paper was written in the year 1919.—[Ed.]